Christian Foundations
DEVOTIONAL ARCHIVE
Monday, October 22, 2007
Counting the Cost
“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it. . . . ”
—Luke 14:27–28
When Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover, John’s Gospel tells us that many believed in His name after they saw the signs He did. But Jesus did not entrust himself to them, because “He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24–25).
To put it simply, many believed in Him, but He did not believe in them. Many believed in Him, but their faith was superficial. It was shallow. It was based on the moment, not on a real commitment. Thus, Christ did not commit himself to them.
There are a lot of people who say they want to follow Jesus. And that is good. But that commitment will be challenged. We must decide to follow Jesus not because our best friend is, not because our boyfriend or girlfriend is, not because our parents are, but because we have chosen to follow Christ.
Many of us can get caught up in the moment. It’s like watching an Olympic medal ceremony. We see someone representing their nation standing up on that pedestal. As the gold medal is placed around the athlete’s neck and the flag of his or her country is raised while the national anthem plays, we say, “I want to be an Olympic athlete. That is what I want to do.” But do we realize the hours, days, months, and years these athletes dedicate to one competition?
We get excited about the medal ceremonies. But are we willing to go through the training? Are we willing to count the cost? Is our commitment to Him and Him alone? Are we willing to be real followers of Jesus?
Copyright © 2007 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions,
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